Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bethel board approves firefighter tracking packs and a radiation detector for fire department
Summary
The Bethel Board of Finance approved purchases to add an SCBA pack tracker system and a pocket-sized radiation detector to the Bethel Fire Department inventory, citing improved firefighter accountability, mutual-aid interoperability and on-scene safety after a prior accident involving radiological construction devices.
The Bethel Board of Finance approved purchases this meeting for the Bethel Fire Department, voting to add an electronic SCBA pack-tracker system and a pocket-sized radiation detector to town equipment.
The motion to buy SCBA pack trackers — listed in the meeting packet as $3,762.178 from the capital nonrecurring (CNR) fund for the department — was introduced by the Chair and discussed by the Fire chief, who described the device as a tracker that links a radio-transmitting ID on an air pack with a firefighter tag at the command post. “This device allows you to track that… the closer you get, it has a 10-level visual indicator that you're getting close,” the Fire chief said, explaining the system displays an air-pack number and the associated firefighter tag so rescuers know where a downed firefighter was assigned.
The chief said the department currently has one donated unit and needs a second plus batteries and charging devices; he emphasized the units use a universal radio frequency that works across neighboring departments during mutual aid. “So, god forbid, a firefighter goes down… what we'll see is that number air pack and the firefighter's tag associated with it at the command post,” he said.
Separately the board approved a $1,899 radiation meter from CNR after the Fire chief described a prior crash in which contractors were transporting radiological compaction devices and the town lacked reliable local measurement. The chief recounted: “When I got there, a young gentleman... said, ‘don't go near our car… it’s dangerous… radiation.’” He said the proposed meter is small, sensitive and can be carried on the engine downtown; it will be used on all calls and for mutual-aid responses so partners can operate together.
Board members framed both purchases as safety investments. A Committee member called the pack tracker “a cheap need,” and others noted the radiation detector addresses a local equipment gap exposed by the earlier accident. The motions were adopted by voice votes recorded in the meeting as members responding “Aye.”
The board did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the purchases were approved and the items will be placed into service and shared during mutual-aid operations.
